On the economic front, construction spending for March due to be released at 10:00am ET. And the ISM manufacturing index for April is due to be released at the same time. Economists in a Reuters survey expected a reading of 53.0 versus 53.4 in March.

Bank of America said it is planning to slash up to 400 positions, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, adding that the sale of the financial giant's wealth-management operations overseas would reduce up to 2,000 jobs.

Delta Airlines announced that it would buy a Pennsylvania oil refinery from ConocoPhillipsfor $150 million.

The leaders of New York City’s pension funds said they would vote their 4.7 million company shares against five directorsstanding for re-election to Wal-Mart’s board over concerns about the retailer’s reported cover-up of bribery in its Mexico operations, according to the New York Times.

And News Corp came under fresh attack by UK politicians who said Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person” to lead a major international company on the heels of the phone-hacking scandal at the company's cable TV operator BSkyB.

Most markets in Europe and several major Asian markets were closed on Tuesdayto mark the May Day holiday and trading could remain thin ahead of Thursday's ECB policy meeting and Friday's non-farm payroll report. The London Stock Exchangewas the only major market that was open in Europe.

In Asia, China's factory activity hit a 13-month high in April, suggesting the world's second-largest economy may be slowly recovering from its decline.